It's not a scenario you want to think about as you plan a trip. You're focused on learning Italian in Florence, getting a tan in Montego Bay, or helping to build an elementary school in Kisumu. But sexual assault can happen when you're abroad, and in addition to the horror of the assault itself and the risks that come with it — like possible pregnancy and STD exposure — victims also have to navigate foreign laws, often in a foreign language.

Paula Lucas has helped dozens of young American women in this predicament since she founded Sexual Assault Support and Help for Americans Abroad (SASHAA) in 2010, the first — and only — organization dedicated to helping these victims. (Other organizations, like It Happened to Alexa, work with U.S.-based victims primarily, though have helped those assaulted abroad as well.) Now, thanks to a federal grant from the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) awarded to SASHAA this past October, Lucas will be able to help hundreds if not thousands more through the website. While there are no statistics of how many U.S. women are sexually assaulted abroad annually, Lucas knows the number is staggering based on the fact that a woman is assaulted every two minutesin the United States alone, and 29 million Americans traveled abroad last year.

Lucas urges young women to go to SASHAA's brand-new website before they leave the country in order to be prepared should the worst happen. Here, she explains why.

Why did you start SASHAA?I started my first organization for survivors of domestic violence abroad in 1999 based on my own experience. I was married to a man from Lebanon and living in Dubai. The laws there were different than American ones when it came to domestic violence — I wanted to leave my husband, but when I called the American embassy for help, they basically told me I had to follow the local laws. The U.S. consulate plays a diplomatic role in foreign countries — most people don't realize that all they can do is give you a list of local lawyers, medical resources, and call your emergency contact if you are the victim of a crime, including rape. [For a list of what they can and can't do, click here.]

I managed to escape back to the U.S. and set up my organization to help other victims of domestic assault victims like me, but then, in 2010, we got our first call from a sexual assault victim. She found us online because we work with American victims abroad — and she had no one else to turn to. We started getting more calls over the next two years, and I realized there was a real need. Often women who are assaulted while traveling don't know their perpetrator — or she just met him — unlike domestic violence survivors. So I started SASHAA as an offshoot because no one else was doing it in a dedicated way.

What was the first sexual assault call you received?A young gal was raped during her junior year abroad in 2010. She found us online, and though we were not set up to help sexual assault victims at that time, we were able to provide her with counseling and help her come up with a story that she could tell her parents to get her home without disclosing the assault. Often women do not want to tell anyone. There's a lot of shame. They blame themselves and just want to come home. But then when they're here [in the United States] and recovered from the physical aspects of the assault, they wish they had done more while they were in the country.

What can they do?Every case is different and depends on where the assault took place. So when a victim calls us, the first thing we do is make sure she gets to a safe place or needs to get medical attention. Then we establish if she wants to report the crime to the police and if it is even safe to do that. Laws and attitudes vary greatly from country to country, and it's important for women to know what they're getting themselves into if they decide to pursue a conviction. We also pay for her to go to a doctor — to do a rape kit, if available, and get access to the morning-after pill and other drugs for potential STDs, including AIDS if necessary. We are a nonprofit organization — all of this work is made possible by the OVC grant.

Rape is difficult under any circumstances, but then add not knowing the language or the laws of the country you were raped in, and it becomes an absolute nightmare. If a date rape drug was used, then she may wake up in a totally different place than she remembered last and have no idea how to get back to her hotel or housing — this all on top of having been assaulted.

Why did you decide to launch a new site?We wanted to have one place where women could go and get pertinent information, and a website is the easiest way for travelers to access information. Our site includes a link to AT&T access codes, which enables victims to contact us via our international toll free number (1-866-USWOMEN) from 175 countries, which means anyone can call and get connected with one of our U.S.-based caseworkers who will guide her — or him as we have had one male victim as well — from that moment onward. We're also working to get this information out to study abroad programs, U.S. embassies, and U.S. Chambers of Commerce, as well as local women's organizations so they know to refer women in need to us. This will spread the word that we exist, but is also a means to gather information about each country for the sexual assault database we are working on at this moment, which will give women cultural context for whichever country she is visiting. So whether she's heading to Dublin or Dubai, she can look up the laws about sexual assault as well as the attitudes toward women. For instance, when a Norwegian woman was raped in Dubai last year, she reported it to the police and was arrested for having extramarital sex. That database is an ongoing project and will be online by summer 2015. But women should not wait: We can give that information to anyone who calls us.

What can women expect when they call?Everyone who answers the phone has been trained specifically on issues of sexual assault abroad, so whoever gets your call will stay with you throughout your entire ordeal — whether that means getting you home safely or helping you get a conviction. Currently, we have four advocates — they answer the hotlines and do the initial screening. If the caller is in crisis, one of four caseworkers will get on the line to provide immediate and long-term support, which includes counseling as well as help navigating the legal process should the victim decide to go down that road. We will add another two more of each in 2015. So far, we have handled 65 sexual assault cases but expect to reach hundreds more once our website is up and word starts to spread. I am going on a multi-country tour in March and April, meeting with universities, women's groups, and consular officials, handing out posters to hang in the same room where Americans go to get their passports renewed or replaced. We want women who go to their embassy for help to know that they have options. We're also working on building SARTs, Sexual Assault Response Teams, in overseas communities. These will be volunteers who can go meet victims and get her to a safe place, and then continue to do case management on the ground. Immediate triage is the ultimate goal. Depending on what the victim wants, we can advise her on a collection of evidence — keeping her clothing for DNA evidence, doing a rape kit, identifying possible witnesses. Then the case manager will walk her through the possibility of a legal process in that particular country, if she wants to go down that road.

Do many women do that?No, it is rare. Most just want to forget it and move on. But we know that suppressing their feelings around the rape and not working through the trauma can cause all kinds of problems, including real illnesses, like heart diseases, depression, anxiety, and PTSD.

If they do want to prosecute, we talk about all the options and possible outcomes, and the parameters of what she can do in that country. So depending on where she was assaulted, we carry out each scenario and ask her what she wants. If she just wants to come home, we can help her get an airplane flight. If she wants to stay and prosecute, we can pay for a hotel and even a lawyer. This can be a very long road. We have one woman who was raped in Italy last year, and her first court date is this coming January. We are paying for her to attend because if she doesn't go, then the court won't prosecute. It is important for her to show up if she wants justice. But it takes courage and support. That is where we can help.

What is your advice to women traveling abroad?Women want to be polite — especially when we are in a foreign country. It's OK to offend, especially someone you may never see again. Women have a gut instinct — if something does not feel right, trust that instinct. And even then, take the extra precaution. Don't go anywhere with a man you just met. If you want to go to the club he suggests, then have a few women friends come along too. I cannot tell you how many assaults start with, "Oh, it's not safe to walk alone. I will escort you." And then he rapes her.

How does culture play a role?
One of the prevention pieces is to look hard at the culture where you're going. How you might dress in Thailand will vary from how you dress in Finland. You want to blend in and not look like a tourist, which is true of all crimes — if you are wearing shorts in a place where women wear long skirts, you will stick out. You should be able to go out and drink in a bar and enjoy yourself. But there are different rules in different countries: We may think it is polite to smile and say hello to men, or look at them eye to eye, but that might mean that you want to have sex in his culture. So knowing the cultural norms is hugely important.

Any other advice?
Don't tell strangers that it is your last night as we have had many cases where men have preyed on women who are leaving the next day. And then you have to decide: Do I stay in this country to deal with the repercussions? Or get on my flight back home? These men are predators — and sometimes there's more than one. We're working with a woman who went to a travel agent in India after she landed to set up her stay — he booked her hotel and a tour, and then stole her credit card information and charged over $10,000 and sent her to a hotel where she was raped by someone who had access to the keys. It was an elaborate scam. Another woman was drugged by a bartender at her hotel bar in Germany — she woke up the next day naked in the hotel lobby bathroom and couldn't remember anything. Her mother and sister had gone up to their room early, and she wanted one last drink. Sometimes it is one assailant, other times it is organized. Stay in groups. There really is safety in numbers.

What is the biggest complaint you get from victims?"Why are the embassies not doing anything?" The embassies are often the first to hear about assaults, yet their hands are really tied about what they can do. They're there for diplomatic reasons and have to abide by the laws within that country. It is very restrictive. But they can treat victims better than they do now. We did some training with an embassy official recently who just wanted to know how to speak to a victim. It's not hard: Treat her with humanity.

Liz WelchLiz Welch's writing has also appeared in Real Simple, Glamour, and the New York Times Magazine.

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